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10 Tips and Tricks to Improve Sales Call Quality

Wouldn’t it be nice if the only metric that mattered in selling over the telephone was the number of calls? We could all just double the number of dials we require from our sales reps and we’d double our sales. Alas, this is not the case. As we all know, call quality matters. Many fall into the trap of measuring only the number of calls because it’s easy. However, with the right technology and processes in place, an objective measurement of call quality can also be achieved.

Here are some tips to help you achieve higher quality calls and results:

Hanging upbefore voice mail picks up doesn’t count as a phone call.

A quality call must be at least two minutes. Note: It could take some time to navigate a corporate auto attendant.

Everyone makes personal calls from work, make sure you can separate these from the total call activity, tracking calls within your CRM is the only way to do this.

How many calls does it take to set an appointment? If your CRM, and phone system calculate this metric, you’ll know when to keep going and when to give up.

Difference in metrics. The metrics for inside sales are very different from account executives; make sure you are measuring the right thing for the right team.

Goals. Make sure your call activity tracks to your immediate and long term goal.

Balance quantity and quality – find your sweet spot. Find the quality metrics of your most successful team members; identify the characteristics of your most productive calls, and consider the time of day: when is the most effective time to get someone on the phone?

Transparency is good. Share the data with the team and drive healthy competition. It is not uncommon that that sales staff who use their phone time the best, are the ones who exceed quota. You shouldn’t be afraid to share your call data with the team. Sales teams often see an immediate bump in productivity, and bump in sales, when they share the call data with the team. No one ever wants to be at the bottom of the list.

A missed call could be a missed sale. Make sure you have contingencies in place to be responsive to voicemail, like voicemail to email with transcription.

The best policy is, “If it isn’t in the CRM, it didn’t happen.” Consider a CRM that encourages your staff to take notes while on a call. If they have to take notes after the call they simply won’t do it, sales reps generally do the bare minimum for non sales related tasks. Knowing what happened is as importing as knowing a call is made, make sure the process guides the collection of the wrap up code and notes

It’s important to understand the quality metrics of each representative, department and team. Keep in mind the old adage, “That which gets measured improves.” By simply understanding and beginning to track call quality, you should begin to see a trend in the right direction.